BERNE  It was the last basketball game to be played in the old Berne-Knox-Westerlo gymnasium on Wednesday evening, and the Lady Bulldogs sent it out in style with an easy win over Waterford in the first-round of the Class C playoffs.

BKW came ready to play in the first quarter, establishing an 18-to-2 lead, and then cruised the rest of the way for a 66-to-44 victory. Sophomore Liz Harvey scored a game- high 31 points, and the Bulldog defense held Section II leading scorer Katie Howe to only 11 points.

“We got out early, got a big lead, and things started to slow down,” said Head Coach Tom Galvin. “It wasn’t the most exciting game, but it is what it is. My players started to back off a little.”

The pace of the game was quite sluggish throughout, nothing like the feverish tempo that the Lady Bulldogs are used to in the Western Athletic Conference. The Fordians were 15-2, but from a far weaker league as the 10th seed.

“We’re very confident,” Harvey said. “I knew we had the game when we started making shots. The whole team got involved.”

Anna Lease scored 12 points and sophomore Mary Salo had eight for BKW. Galvin said that Salo, Lease, and Christina North keep the team “alive” by grabbing all the rebounds. “They’re everyone’s best friends,” Galvin said.

“Mary likes to kick the ball out a lot, but I think she should shoot more,” said Galvin. “She dominates the boards.”

The seventh-seeded Bulldogs (14-4) will travel to second-seeded Argyle (18-1) on Saturday for the quarterfinals. Proceedings will be much tougher against the Scots, who went undefeated in the Adirondack League, and sailed by Schoharie on Wednesday, 77 to 31.

“We’ll have to lock down on their scorers,” Harvey said, looking forward to Saturday. “We have to want it more than them.”

Galvin told The Enterprise that BKW would have to play a complete game with no letdowns. “Things are not going to be easy,” he said. “They have a good tradition like us. Let’s go get them.”

The Bulldogs were in the Class C finals last year at Hudson Valley Community College, and Harvey said that the goal for 2011 was to get back to that point.

“We want a championship so bad and we can get it because we have a lot of talent,” Harvey said. “Every position is filled, so we shouldn’t lose.”

The Dog Pound, as BKW fans call the old gym, was built in 1965. Galvin, once a Bulldog player, has many memories of the gymnasium that he calls “my dump.”

“There were games, dances, and even dodge ball,” Galvin said. “We’re getting a new gym that will be sterile with no character. The old one will be missed.”